Waiting for the Barbarians

The expansion of empire is the central theme of the novel. Imperialism is the complete subjugation of local, usually Indigenous, peoples through military and financial coercion. An empire, like the one in the novel, exists to enrich its ruling class at the expense of the people it subjugates. Colonialism is a form of settler imperialism where the members of the ruling nation settle on the land of the Indigenous population and rule over them. The settlement outpost in the novel signals the physical reach of the Empire. While the novel does not explicitly state why the settlement exists, or what the primary motivation was for the expansion in the first place (whether it was for resource exploitation or some other purpose), the cultural footprint of the Empire is nonetheless large and growing and serves as motivation in and of itself.

The novel explores the binary of empire versus Indigenous people. Part of the nature of the Empire is a strong xenophobia and prejudice against those not part of it. This bias against others is an enabling force, and when ugly and cruel behavior is unleashed on those suspected of being the enemy, there is no resistance from the Empire’s citizens. The brutality is unsavory to the townspeople at best; at worst, it is a satisfying of bloodlust. Joll’s arrival at the settlement initiates a series of events in which the worst people in the settlement slowly rise to the surface. Joll’s arrival induces fear amongst the townspeople, and it is directed outward at their supposed enemy, which they are told are the Indigenous nomadic communities. It is important to recognize that the Magistrate consistently points out that the town has been at peace and has never experienced a real threat from the local population; however, Joll’s arrival and the campaign against the Indigenous community causes fear, which turns into hysteria.

The irony is that the real enemy of the settlement is Joll and the Third Bureau. They bring chaos and brutality to the town. Almost all of the violence committed in the novel is performed by the Empire. The only act of violence allegedly perpetrated by the locals against the Empire happens toward the end, when the dead soldier arrives propped up on horseback. Even then, it can be inferred that Joll’s own men committed this act. The Indigenous community does not commit any acts of war against the Joll’s army. Joll’s assistant reveals to the Magistrate that the people simply lured the army further and further into the mountains and effectively used their bloodlust against them. It was not the Indigenous people who killed off the army; it was the elements. Had Joll’s company not been so aggressively seeking to annihilate the Indigenous people, the army would not have suffered the decimation that it did. This is one of the underlying lessons the book explores. There are limits to imperial expansion. Like a rubber band, if stretched too far, it will snap at some point.